First Japanese nuclear power plant since Fukushima to resume operations
Local governor gives final approval to restart two reactors at Sendai nuclear power station despite residents’ concerns
A local governor in Japan has given final approval to restart a nuclear power plant in southern Japan, the first to resume operations in the country under new safety rules imposed in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi meltdowns caused by an earthquake and tsunami.
Kagoshima governor Yuichiro Ito said restarting two reactors at the Sendai nuclear power station would go ahead despite the concerns of local residents.
“All things considered, I must say that we still need to rely on nuclear energy, and it is extremely important for us to steadily carry out the plan,” Ito told a news conference.
Ukraine ceasefire deal in tatters as fighting intensifies
Kiev tightens security at ‘border’ with separatist-held areas
Kiev and pro-Russian rebels have blamed each other for intensifying fighting in eastern Ukraine and for the shelling of a Donetsk school playing field that killed two teenagers and injured four others.
Moscow also accused Ukraine’s pro-western leaders of “crudely” breaching a ceasefire and peace plan signed on September 5th in Minsk, which Kiev said the rebels had ripped up when holding “illegal” leadership elections last Sunday.
Fierce artillery fire rumbled around Donetsk airport in what the separatists’ self-declared deputy premier Andrei Purgin called part of Ukraine’s resumption of “all-out war” against rebel forces that allegedly receive major backing from Russia.
Typhoon Haiyan's survivors are 'afraid of their own shadows'
November 7, 2014 - 5:10PM
Lindsay Murdoch
South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
Victory Island, Eastern Samar: Every day since the most powerful storm on record smashed across this tiny coral island 12 months ago, Gemyma Alterado has looked out to sea, refusing to give up hope that 11 members of her family will somehow return.
"What can we do but pray and hope? There are no bodies to bury so we don't have anywhere to mourn," says Alterado, referring to her nieces, nephews and other relatives who were swept away in massive wall of water whipped up by Typhoon Haiyan that devastated the central Philippine islands on November 8, 2013, killing 6300 people, leaving 1000 missing and displacing 4.1 million others.
Mexico's missing students: Will case prove a tipping point? (+video)
The disappearance of 43 college students in September has reverberated deeply in Mexico, bringing together disparate protest movements and raising hopes that leaders will finally have to address the ongoing corruption and impunity it exposes.
MEXICO CITY — The number 43 is cropping up across Mexico City these days: Written large on banners near Revolution Plaza and scribbled small on posters advertising office space for rent. In a public park, one wall bears the graffiti message: “It hurts 43 times.”
The signs all refer to the mass kidnapping in September of 43 students from a teachers college in the southern state of Guerrero. It is not the biggest or bloodiest crime in Mexico’s recent history, but it has struck a national nerve. It has exposed alleged connections between local officials, police, and organized crime. And many here hope it can be a turning point for Mexico, which has struggled to address the corruption and impunity that grip the nation, even as President Enrique Peña Nieto tries to highlight its economic promise.
Indian intelligence agency on the cheap hampers war on militants
By Andrew MacAskill and Sanjeev Miglani
When a bomb went off last month in West Bengal state, police at India's leading counterterrorism organization had to hail taxis to get to the scene because they did not have enough cars.
The admission by two officers from the National Investigation Agency underlines how poorly equipped it is to fulfill its role of investigating the most serious terrorism cases, cutting off funding to militants and putting suspects on trial.
The NIA's woes are symptomatic of an overstretched intelligence network at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi must counter the growing threat of Islamist militants from al Qaeda, and possibly also Islamic State, gaining a foothold in the world's largest democracy.
7 November 2014 Last updated at 00:41
Viewpoint: The WW1 film over 20 million people went to see
A film about the Battle of the Somme became an unlikely blockbuster in Britain during World War One and still remains one of the most-watched films of all time, says Dr Vincent Trott.
In an age of 24-hour news and social media, few of us are entirely ignorant of the brutality of warfare. Harrowing images from war-torn areas can be easily recorded and disseminated with hand-held devices.
Whilst this may be disturbing, we are probably more uncomfortable with the idea that the reality of armed conflict might be hidden from us. Information is now so readily available we have an almost insatiable appetite for the "truth".
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